“I’ve been around a very long time, and I’ve seen similar things… but never anything like this,” said Jake Johnson, president of the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, in a stark warning shared with Fox News Digital. “This is an onslaught.”
In the wake of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across Los Angeles — a sanctuary city that has long resisted federal immigration crackdowns — thousands of protesters have taken to the streets, some turning violent. Officers have been pelted with rocks and bottles. Autonomous electric vehicles were torched. Over 500 arrests have been made, and at least nine police officers injured.
To contain the unrest, over 1,000 state troopers and CHP Special Response Team officers have been sent into the region. Johnson revealed officers are working grueling 16 to 20-hour shifts, navigating chaos on freeways and side streets, often with little clarity about who is protesting peacefully — and who is provoking violence.
“It’s extremely difficult,” Johnson said. “You’ve got people exercising their First Amendment rights, but they’re being overtaken by bad actors.”
Images from downtown Los Angeles and the 101 Freeway capture the intensity: smoke grenades, burned-out patrol cars, and streets littered with shattered glass.
At one point, Johnson says, a fellow officer narrowly escaped death when a rock slammed into his helmet. “If he wasn’t wearing protection, he would’ve been killed,” he said.
Johnson called on the public to assist law enforcement by reporting agitators and capturing violent acts on camera.
“It’s time to start turning these people in,” he said. “We need the peaceful protesters to help us identify those hijacking their movement.”
The chaos prompted President Donald Trump to deploy 4,000 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines to Los Angeles, an action that sparked legal conflict with California Governor Gavin Newsom. A federal appeals court sided with the Trump administration last Thursday, rejecting a lower court ruling that sought to return full control of the Guard to the state.
“If I didn’t send the Military into Los Angeles, that city would be burning to the ground right now,” Trump posted on Truth Social, thanking the court for the decision.
National Guard Role Still Limited — For Now
Though deployed, the National Guard has not yet taken to the streets, and their visibility remains minimal. Johnson, who spent several nights in the field, says he hasn’t encountered the Guard in action.
“They’re guarding federal facilities, but they’re not integrated with any of us,” he noted.
The deployment comes amid growing concern about long-term staffing shortages in law enforcement across the state. Johnson says the CHP is currently down nearly 1,000 patrol officers, a shortfall exacerbated by early retirements and recruitment struggles.
Politics Set Aside, But the Risks Remain
Despite political clashes in courtrooms and on Capitol Hill, Johnson said frontline officers remain focused solely on maintaining order.
“You don’t think about politics when you’re out there. These officers — they’re my brothers and sisters — are just trying to keep the peace and protect people,” he said. “They’re very, very good people. And they’re exhausted.”
With the anti-ICE protests entering a second volatile week, Los Angeles braces for the unknown. Streets remain tense, law enforcement is stretched thin, and a city already haunted by memories of 1992 now fears a dangerous repeat.